16 People Share the Secrets About Working as a Housekeeper

Tired of being bossed around by their employers, many people are now choosing whom to work for and are doing odd jobs here and there. Such is the case of some hourly maids. Yet, they still can’t escape working for shameless people.

This proves that a thorough cleanup is the least laborious part of their job. Fortunately, with a little ingenuity, most of them have managed to get out of uncomfortable situations.

• I used to work as a house cleaner. One woman hired me to clean her house once on a trial basis, and if she liked how I did, the deal was she would have me come back regularly. Or so I thought.
  She gave me a long lecture about why she was so important because of the parties her husband threw and all the important people he invited. Then walked me through the house pointing out their expensive abstract paintings and giving me little tidbits about each one. So far nothing had to do with cleaning.
  She turned to me very suddenly and warned me, “I don’t tolerate theft. Do you understand me? You may think because we have a lot of money that it’s okay to steal from us, but it’s not.” I nodded. Then she was all friendly again. © amitoughenouss / Reddit
• I worked as a housekeeper for my boss as a side job, and she was really filthy... One day, I was getting ready to start, and she came up to me and said, “Oh my gosh, I’m so embarrassed and this is really gross, but my son (he was 4 years old) is playing with dog poo.” I stared at her and then went to the living room, where this kid had smeared dog poo all over the front window! © Turntopage-394 / Reddit
• A lady called and said she’d been in the hospital for a week having a baby. Her husband hadn’t kept up with the housework and the house was a bit behind. She asked if I’d be able to clean everything in two hours.
  I showed up, and the stairs were covered in something thick and shiny. I left my shoes on, and I never do that. I went into the kitchen and nearly fainted.
  Someone had dumped a 4-pound bag of sugar in the middle of the kitchen and then someone tried to clean it up with water. The homeowners and three kids were walking through it like it was nothing. I asked her, and she said the sugar got dumped a week ago.
  They had a microfibre couch that was totally covered in sugar. Every wall was sugar three feet up. There was sugar on the computer, DVD player, TV, and curtains. No one seemed to see this as a problem. The mom didn’t understand why I would want to clean up the sugar first.
  I wiped down all their electronics as carefully as I could and had to use a scrub brush on the stairs. Took me almost the full two hours. They were mad and basically told me not to come back because I didn’t get anything done in two hours. Good cause I don’t want to come back 😂. © manypuppies / Reddit
  
  You might also find this interesting to read: 15 Infuriating Things People Say When They Find Out You Have a Certain Job

• There’s a house that I do regularly where the teens’ bathroom is completely trashed every single time I go. The house is done every other week. There are candy wrappers, empty cans, clothes, open makeup, and other beauty products everywhere.
  The lady is also rude when interacting with me. Her kids don’t even bother picking up after themselves. Then their mother talks to me like I’m a subhuman. Not a great job, but I’m sticking with it for now. © Kafkaesque92 / Reddit
• Cleaning a holiday home, and it was clear they’d had a croissant fight. It was everywhere, along with jam and such. The pantry was literally covered in every kind of food. So they must’ve had the fight literally as they left or were just sitting in it for a while. I couldn’t fathom it. © timmystwin / Reddit
• I very briefly worked as a house cleaner, so I didn’t have time to see some really weird stuff, but I still had a couple of experiences that had me going “Huh?” For example, an elderly woman living in a moderately-sized house. The house was always very orderly, so it was a breeze to clean, but the woman had moderate Parkinson’s, so there were things she couldn’t do herself, like cleaning out her fridge.
  I did it a couple of times, and one of the last times I was there, I found 20+ packets of cheese slices piled in her fridge. Just piles and piles of sliced cheese packets. I didn’t ask, but it had me wondering for a long time. © ratplague / Reddit
  
  You might also want to take a look at 13 Stories That Show How Much Patience It Takes to Work in Customer Service

• My friend is a maid in Japan to a rich guy with a giant mansion. She is in charge of the other maids. She told me that he makes them wear cosplay maid uniforms and cat ears instead of real maid uniforms. They have to “nya” at the end of every sentence, and he must be addressed as “Master Okihara” (I forgot his name, but it was something close).
  He also makes them gather around him before he sleeps to tell them about his day. They are like eight or nine. When guests come over, they are to change to a standard Japanese uniform. I honestly thought it was fake until she sent me a video. © WhitePandaLamb / Reddit
• This one woman had us move some furniture and there was this one piece that was like a tall box with a sheet over it. She made it very clear that we were not to take the sheet off. Apparently, it was a crystal ball that gives off positive energy to anyone who looks into it. But if too many people look into it, it sucks the energy dry. So only she can look into it. © sweetlemongrass / Reddit
• Helped my mother-in-law, who was a maid once, with a very large mansion — a beautiful house with amazing architecture. They traveled the world all the time. The kitchen had old appliances from the 70s, and the wife’s bathroom had a broken toilet seat that was duct-taped together. The wife did not rewear her underwear.
  We were not to go into the basement. I peeked down there, and there were clothes three feet deep in the basement where she took them off and just threw them down there. Thousands of pairs of underwear. Very weird people. © 2greenToes / Reddit
  
  However, these housekeepers aren’t the only ones who’ve had a bad experience at work: 20 Employees Share How They Left a Lousy Job Without Looking Back

• Cleaning houses, it just seemed the richer the people were, the weirder they were. I think the worst was the people living in a $2 million house full of nice antiques, who just let their dog poop all over the dining room floor.
  And they bought processed, off-brand food almost exclusively. Cheap, unhealthy, and probably not very good. If it were some name-brand, unhealthy, but really tasty stuff, I could kind of get it. Just, why? © henbanehoney / Reddit
• Used to clean my mom’s boss’s house on the weekends with her. She had this old hutch in the corner of one room stocked with dishes she wanted us to move and clean. It smelled a bit weird while we were doing it, and we eventually found the source at the back of the hutch — a butter dish with butter circa 1984 (this happened in 2014, by the way).
  I told her about it, and the first thing she asked was “Did you save the butter dish?” My mom and I then went out and dug this sour-smelling piece of porcelain out of the trash. Later on, we found it being used in the fridge again... © NikkyB123 / Reddit
• Some people take advantage of having a cleaning service and live like absolute slobs. The idea isn’t that I should have to unclog your toilets, pick up tissues or underwear off of the floor, or wash two weeks’ worth of dishes while I am there. It’s expected that people keep their houses tidy enough that I don’t have to work around their garbage. Some people don’t get it. © PrincessPikapoo / Reddit
  
  Keep reading: 10+ Old School Cleaning Tricks That Are Useful Even Today
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